A Rainy Afternoon

Summary:After a fleeting 6 week long summer of happiness, Alice has a vision which sends her whole new world spiralling into chaos.Alone, scared and left trying to prevent a future which seems inevitable Alice Brandon learns that even being immortal can't save her fairytale relationship, and everything that she knows is about to come crashing down around her.SEQUEL TO THE SUNSHINE TRAIN, AND REEEAALLY WON'T MAKE SENSE WITHOUT IT.

Notes:
Disclaimer: I own copies of Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. I also own the Twilight DVD and I do have the half finished Midnight Sun manuscript saved on my harddrive. Apart from that however, I have nothing :(

1. Preface

I jerked out of the vision with an unneeded shuddering gasp. I was shaking uncontrollably, the arms clutching my head were trembling so hard my whole body was vibrating.

I knew that it should be virtually impossible for a vampire to go into shock, but right now that was not the first thing on my mind.

“No! No! NO!”

I was screaming, wither out loud on in my head I had no idea. But I was screaming as loudly as I possibly could, desperate for anyone to hear me. Anyone to save me.

“Alice! Alice what is it, what did you see?!” Bella cried in my ears, as frantic and desperate as I was. “Alice please!”

Her arms were scraping at mine, trying to drag them away from my face, seeking the answers in my eyes.

But I had no answers to give her.

I knew what Jasper was going to do, what he'd finally decided. And I knew that they would kill him.

Everything I'd tried to prevent over the past months, everything I'd put myself through to avoid that one factor. Everything was for nothing.

I was making decisions faster than I could comprehend, the future flickering in front of my eyes as I discarded each one. Anything that ending with him dying.

A faint glimmer. Darkness with a pinpoint of light shining as brightly as it could.

Hope? A star shining brightly in the night sky? I didn't know.

But it was my only option. It was the only thing I could do. The future after that vision was uncertain, unprecedented. But he didn't die.

I could see him holding me, the shock on his face as his eyes met mine. I could see his arms grasping me so tightly that if I was human I would have snapped in half.

And then nothing.

We had no certain future after that point.

But we were together. After all this time.

I threw myself out of the car into the diminishing light of Volterra as the sun set. The red glow spread across the sky, the inky dark of the night bleeding into it. The red of the sky looked to much like blood for me to stand it, it was too human.

I cringed inwardly, but it didn't last long. I threw myself forward, running in a vaguely familiar direction, the one I'd seen myself going in.

I knew I didn't have long. I knew that even running at full out speed, I might not make it.

I could hear Bella running behind me, but with every step I took she was left a little further behind. My still remaining newborn speed, teamed with the determination that was coursing through my muscles made me nearly twice as fast as her.

But with every step the hopeful glimmer of a momentarily happy future was slipping away. Every second that ticked by, even as I sped through the empty streets, marked another second towards a future so terrible it had nearly driven me mad.

NO!

I think I screamed it.

Maybe it was just a whisper.

Or a quick, fleeting thought as I pushed every ounce of eternal energy I had into my legs, feeling physical strain for the first time since becoming a vampire.

The bell tower was chiming, every toll ringing out across the square echoing in every stone corner of the beautiful city.